Guerrilla History The China Model w/ Ali Kadri
Jan 23, 2026
Ali Kadri, academic and author on political economy and development, returns to unpack the China Model. He traces revolutionary roots, party-led priorities, and pragmatic reform strategies. Conversation hits state planning, technology and science investment, agricultural foundations, and China's global economic role in offering an alternative to imperial extractive models.
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Revolution Changes Development Criteria
- A people's revolution changes development criteria from profit to social benefit, enabling mass mobilization of resources for long-term gains.
- China directed productivity gains to labor and public welfare, dramatically reducing poverty over decades.
Pre-Revolutionary China: Vivid Poverty Image
- Arthur K. Davis described pre-revolution China as so poor that bodies sometimes floated down the Yangtze River.
- Such vivid accounts illustrate the extreme baseline from which China began its socialist transformation.
Mobilize Resources, Not Short-Term Profit
- China achieved sustained high growth by mobilizing otherwise idle labor, land, and capital under socialist planning rather than short-term profit motives.
- Socialist planning allowed trade-offs of short-term losses for long-term societal gains and rapid infrastructure and welfare expansion.
